In the Dark
by BritishPistol
Summary: "Oh no, Scorpius got hot." When all Rose Weasley wants to do is get all Os in her OWLs, the last thing she needs is a new distraction. When all the wizarding world needs is stabilisation, the last thing it needs is to come crashing down. With everything these teenagers know imploding, how will they cope? Rose/Scorpius. T for now, probably ending up M.
1. Chapter 1

"Where are you going?"

Rose Weasley looked up from her Nexus phone, blinking, soaking in the internet for the last time until Christmas. It took her a moment to realise someone had actually talked to her in the middle of Kings Cross Station.

"Sorry?" Rose blinked again. The boy, maybe 17 or 18 years old, was unfamiliar to her, all hoodie and earphones and those high-ankled trainers her father had never quite understood: _"So they're for people who play basketball. Does everyone play basketball? I didn't realise it was that popular."_ Rose was almost 100% sure he was playing up the "wizard in the modern world" thing she'd found hilarious as a child, but now she was 15 it was wearing sort of thin.

"Well, you got so much stuff, like even your cat and stuff. You moving house?"

"No, boarding school."

"No shit, they still have those?"

"Yeah."

"That's peak. You live there and everything?" Rose hummed a confirmation. The boy kissed his teeth. "Where is it? You going on the train right?"

"Yup, it's up in Scotland. Takes about 12 hours altogether, that's why we leave early in the morning."

"Sweet, yeah, I saw this boy with a bird earlier; he got all them trunks too."

"Yeah, there's about 300 maybe 400 students who-"

She was interrupted by the sound of a paper coffee cup being placed, not gently, on the table in front of her. She glanced around. Her father's figure filling her vision, he looked tired, the bags had gathered under his eyes increasingly in the last few years. Ronald Weasley straightened.

"Hello, can I help you?" He looked at the young man speaking to his daughter who promptly stood up and placed his hands together.

"Nah, no." He turned to Rose. "Was nice to meet you, have a nice time at… school."

"Thank you." Rose smiled and the boy turned away, walking down passed a stationery shop towards St Pancreas.

"What did he want?" Her father sunk into his chair and opened the coffee cup in front of him, taking a sniff and passing it to Rose. "Cappuccino." Ron had never gotten used to the idea of coffee and instead preferred to change hot chocolate surreptitiously into something that closely resembled the butterbeer of his youth, a relatively simply spell that could be hidden with a cough and a stir of the drink in question.

"Nothing, just asking about Remy." As if the silver tabby could hear his name mentioned; he meowed loudly from his carrier on top of Rose's clothes trunk. Her mother had charmed him so he would be calm for the journey, a charm of her own invention, which Witches Monthly had actually named in their Top 10 Family Charms of the Year: 2019. Nonetheless, he didn't like being ignored for so long.

Ron pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. He left a beat that was just a little too long for comfort.

"What?" Rose sounded jokingly cautious, like her father was about to launch into one of his ever increasing repertoire of Dad Jokes.

"Nothing. You, you just look so much like your mother. You know it was in our fifth year that I really knew, really knew I loved her."

"Da-aad." Rose's face had rushed with blood.

"And you're just so beautiful-"

"Oh my god."

Ron sighed. "I'm going to miss you Ro-Ro. You're growing up so fast, I don't want to miss anything. And don't let any boys break your heart."

Rose softened, he wasn't going to launch in to the talk. _Please, no._ But by then her mother had turned up, in a flurry of Hugo and sandwiches.

"And if they do, well, I have some friends in the Great Lake who know how to deal with wayward wizards, or witches." She turned to Ron, unwrapping a long scarf. "Sweetie, I got you the All Day Breakfast." And then in a lower voice. "All cooked the way you like it." Ron smiled and took the food. Hugo wiggled into the wooden seat next to Rose, already half way through his BLT.

"Now Rosie," began her mother. "I know you don't officially start your OWLs until later this year, but proper preparation prevents a piss poor performance. I'm not going to be checking with Professor Longbottom to see if you're putting in sufficient library time-"

"Mum."

"-But I will expect you to have, under your own initiative, at least to build a solid foundation, if I remember correctly, there's an amazing book on Nordic 12th Century runes, contemporary account you know. Oh, what was it called?"

"Mum."

"Oh, I'll write to you later, expect the first care package in a couple of weeks. I'll try and find some of those candles you were talking about."

"Mum!" Hermione Granger snapped up from looking at her handbag.

"Yes?"

Rose uncrossed her legs and leaned over the plastic table towards her mother. She smiled; "Albus is here."

The families must have looked quite the sight. All red-hair, trunks, animals, green eyes, and freckles. No wonder that boy had wondered where Rose was going. The mini-reunion was all kisses and haven't you growns, look at yous, and show us your muscles. After greetings had been exchanged and James and Albus and Rose had excused themselves, they got to explore the Muggle world for the last time for the next four months. Once they had got out of sight of their familes, James turned to them.

"Sweet Merlin. Okay, promise you won't tell the 'rents?"

"It's cool." Albus returned. James clapped his brother on the shoulder with an "I owe you," and pulled out a couple of rollies.

"We'll meet you back here at twenty to nine." Albus shouted after his brother.

"Sounds good." James Potter had already pulled out his mobile and proceeded to leave the station out onto Euston Road.

Rose watched him go. "So how was the last few weeks, haven't seen you since… your Dad's birthday?"

"Really?" Albus seemed unfazed. Rose wanted to tell him he'd grown, that she'd missed him and his jokes and his pranks and oh god, the trouble she got him in to. He was definitely taller than her now, 5 foot 8, maybe even 9. His brother had grown too, inheriting the Weasley lankiness, if not much else. He was easily over 6 foot now, this was his last year at Hogwarts and Rose had the impression he was eager to get out, explore the world.

"Yeah, I suppose." Albus replied, "Nothing's really happened, spoke to Marie over Skype a bit, went to Greece with the family, we had to order all our Hogwarts stuff to come to the house, or I suppose we would have seen you there. You know all this."

"I know, just asking." These first few days were always a little awkward after the summer. Two months of not really seeing your best friend, your cousin, when normally, Rose and Albus would see each other every day. That came with belonging to one of the most famous families in the wizarding world. I mean, they'd all gone down to Australia for 2 weeks at the beginning of July, the whole pack of Weasleys. But then there was France with Nanna and Pop and then Iceland with just her mum and dad and Hugo and then, summer was over and she hadn't done anything she had wanted too. Stuck in the Surrey countryside, close enough for Mum and Dad to commute to London and too remote to arouse suspicion in any muggles curious enough to investigate the strange comings and goings.

Rose had planned a great summer romance, tanned and freckled, picnics in meadows catching up on all he great music she'd missed and jumping into lakes. Instead she'd got a sticky summer with Remy, cycling, with him in her basket, down to the river so she could try and cool off. Hugo had gone to Quidditch Camp for most of the time, but when he was home it was all maths and sciences and grammar and IT. Being a child of Hermione Granger meant never slacking, they weren't receiving "basic life skills" at Hogwarts, so they'd get them at home. In summer, through the best years of Rose's life. _Ugh._

But that was nothing compared to Albus. Having The Boy Who Lived for a father and Quidditch's greatest player in 20 years for a mother, it turns out, is not as fun as you'd expect. While James and Lily loved it, Albus basically became a recluse. Resulting to mainly communicating through technology and then only to Weasleys and Longbottoms and other family friends of the Potters. Oh, and Marie Johansson. Albus's Ravenclaw, Norwegian girlfriend. She had grown up in a muggle family, which, in their second year, Rose had traced back to Uric the Oddball in a semi-legal blood-reading which had landed Marie in the Infirmary and Rose and Griffindor with 50 fewer house points. Albus of course, found it hilarious.

Rose pulled out her phone and started clicking away at various social medias. She'd run out of things to actually look at, but she was going to take whatever was thrown at her screen for the next… 36 minutes, was it 8:24 already? "Looking forward to the Black Hole?" Albus asked her. The Black Hole was what the students termed the complete and utter lack of technology within the proximity of Hogwarts castle. Any device more high-tech than a wireless promptly glitched and frazzled before completely disintegrating the moment you entered the castle grounds. It took a week or so to adjust to, but after that, it was heaven. After that, you realised you were one of the luckiest people in the world.

They made it onto Platform 9 ¾ at 8:45. Harry and Ron, Ginny and Hermione led the pack. Rose and Albus followed with James, and Hugo and Lily ran off together to find a carriage. The platform was awash with trunks and trolleys, animals, parents, robes, cages and everything. Their trolleys began to follow them like trails of ducklings at a flick of Hermione's wand and a murmur of a charm as the friends, old and new made their way through the commotion. There was a slight change in atmosphere among those at the platform, which was quickly swallowed up in the rush to board the train.

Lily found the carriage she wanted and Hugo approved. They were only 2 months apart in age, but Hugo was the year below and this was only his second year. Lily was gushing forth a stream of advice and warnings for his return to Hogwarts, because she knew exactly how to navigate Hogwarts after her two years there.

By 8:50 the students were ready and trunks were stowed, animals were freed, and people were saying their final goodbyes. James even managed to give his parents a hug and Ginny a kiss before handing over his phone and running off to join his friends further down the train. Albus and Rose had said their goodbyes and waited patiently for their parents to say goodbye to Lily and Hugo. Hugo was holding up pretty well, he just hugged Ron and Hermione deeply while they whispered to him too close for Rose to hear what was going on. Lily, however had lost her edge, grown quiet and simply held both her parents hands with a glum look.

"This is the longest Lily's been quiet since 2009" Albus leaned over to Rose and spoke to her while looking down the rest of the platform. "I just hope she doesn't cry the whole way there." He went back to looking towards his parents. Rose elbowed him.

"Don't be mean."

The whistle blew and an amplified voice announced: "All aboard! The Hogwarts Express will depart in five minutes! All aboard who wish to board!"

"What?!" Albus turned back to her.

She elbowed Albus again and this time turned to look at him. "I said, "Don't be me-""

Now, Rose Weasley in not the type to be distracted by attractiveness. Not in the slightest. Rose Weasley was the type to be distracted by books and curiosities and discoveries. And this, this was a discovery, a horrifying, kinda gross discovery.

"Oh no." Rose thought Albus wouldn't hear. "Oh no, he's hot." As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew she regretted them.

"What?" Albus turned. "What are you- holy shit. Oh my god, are you kidding me? Oh you are never going to live this down."

This discovery, was that puberty had been kind to Scorpius Malfoy.

_No no no. This isn't fair, how can a Malfoy be catapulted to hottest guy in the year, just in the space of two months._ Last time Rose had seen him, he was all pointy cheekbones and lank, blonde, hair, gangly legs and skinny arms. He'd been tall, 5 foot 11 at the age of 14. But now he'd filled out, with muscle. Shit. Rose had heard from Cassie, who'd heard from Gregor that Scorpius had spent the whole summer in New South Wales, training with the Woollongong Wanderers, current quidditch World Champions. Gregor said he'd been scouted for their under 18s team, but she didn't think that was true, he's not even Australian.

Now, she wasn't so sure.

Now, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy was, for want of a word, a babe. He'd finally decided what to do with his long hair. He'd cut it so it was short on the sides and back, but kept it long on the top, he'd currently pulled it back into what Rose scathingly predicted he called a 'scorpion tail' the few strands of hair that weren't quite long enough to reach his ponytail fell down and framed his face, like a blonde halo of pure evil. She could see that it had become curlier; the sun had gotten to it for maybe the first time ever. The sun had gotten to his skin too, turning it a deep bronze, in the way that blonde people go. So now his pale eyes did not look clammy against the contrast of his pale skin, instead they were opal orbs on a canvas of golden sand. He'd filled his robes in a most satisfying way. And he seemed to hold himself with a kind of pride that differed so much from the way he'd looked previously. Before, he'd held himself with an entitled, obnoxious air. Now, it was different, somehow.

"Where's his father?"

Rose noticed for the first time that Scorpious was alone. "I don't know."

She also noticed that he was walking straight towards her. _Okay, he's going to walk passed me. Act cool, be cool, you are cool. The coolest._ Air stopped, time slowed and Malfoy walked passed. The world kept spinning and Rose was getting on the Hogwarts Express and Rose was waving to her parents, Hugo squeezing in front of her and Lily and Albus standing on the chair next to her. And Rose was sitting and Rose was talking and Rose was going back to Hogwarts and Rose still had her phone.

Shit.


	2. Chapter 2

They passed Cambridge within the hour, it was just after the Hogwarts Express passed by Birmingham that the trolley came around. Rose asked for a pumpkin and goats cheese pasty, as well as a bottle of Jenny Any Dot's never-ending spring water, straight from the gorse covered hills of Northern Wales. She also bought Remy a can of liver pate, and cat milk. She poked Albus' foot. He awoke for the first time since boarding and ordered his body weight in Chocolate frogs, then gave most of them to Lily and told her and Hugo to go and give them to anyone who wanted one on the train. After they'd run off, he turned to Rose.

"You know, I think that's the same trolley lady that our parents had when they went to Hogwarts."

"Probably." Rose replied, her mouth full with sweet pumpkin and flaking pastry. "What was her name again? She must be pushing 100 now. I wonder what she does on the other 363 days of the year?"

"Hmm." Albus stretched. "I have no idea." He said sleepily, before crossing his arms and turning to face the window. "Maybe Malfoy knows, I think he's only three carri-" He was cut off by the remainder of Rose's pasty splatting across his face. If he wasn't awake before, he definitely was now.

A long intake of breath and Rose knew she'd fucked up. A grin spread slowly across Albus' face.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She squealed with laughter as she tried to make it out the door to the passageway. Remy hissed and arched his back. It was all in vain, Albus caught her arm and proceeded to stuff pasty down Rose's pullover and rub it in. Rose's laughter filled the carriage and she conceded defeat. Pumpkin chunks and cubes of goat's cheese smushed against her skin and clothes, warm and lumpy. Albus turned back to his seat, wiping flaking pastry and crumbled cheese from his seat.

"Well don't just throw them on the floor!" She pulled her wand from her skirt belt, where she'd stored it before boarding the Hogwart's express.

"Scourgify." Most of the bits of food on the floor and in the air disappeared with a slight popping sound, like the sound your ears make when you go through a tunnel. But there were still half a dozen crumbs on the floor. She furrowed her brow and wiggled her shoulders.

"Losing your touch?" Albus smirked.

"Shut up. It's been a while, besides, she's going to be annoyed with me for a time, until she realises I still love her." Rose's wand, acacia wood, 12 ¾ inches with a stiff constitution and a phoenix feather core had always been temperamental. Ollivander had described mastery of an acacia wand to her as like tuning a violin by ear. She needed to push and pull until the rhythm seemed just right, like a perfectly tuned string. It seemed to pull against Rose, only fully becoming part of her when she relaxed and let the magic flow through her naturally. As such, in a stuffy carriage with her pain of a cousin and lumps of goat's cheese slowly sliding down her back, Rose could not relax. With a flick of her wrist the remaining crumbs disappeared from the floor and she poked her tongue at Albus, who rolled his eyes.

"You still have pie all down your back." His voice was monotone and matter of fact.

Luckily she had not changed into her robes yet. She pulled her clothes trunk from the luggage rack above the seat and took out the ones she'd put aside for the Great feast; Black lace-up ankle boots with a flat heel, thick black tights, her black robe dress, which fell to her ankles, covering her arms and chest, and the tall pointed hat they wore for feasts and other important school activities. Her father had also given her a small pin, a golden lion's head which would roar silently between looking around, surveying the area with his deep ruby eyes. It wasn't strictly regulation uniform, but no one seemed to mind for the Great feast. A little house rivalry was always encouraged and since Rose was thinking of running for prefect this year, she figured it would be a nice touch to help her stand out.

She only took the dress to the bathroom, which was in the next carriage along and tried her best not to leave a trail of crumbs on her way. Covering the bathroom was another matter, but she figured she could clear that easily enough. She piled her pullover and blouse into the sink before slipping off her knee-length gathered skirt, she realised she'd subconsciously dressed in the Gryffindor colours, a burgundy pullover, black short sleeved blouse and tights, a faded gold for the skirt and brown kitten heels for shoes.

She shrugged on the robe-dress and adjusted it, the collar came right to her neck and the sleeves were wide, which was a pain when eating. They weren't the most fashionable things in the world, but Rose had to admit they cut a pretty sharp figure. Besides, they were only for one night before the every-day uniform kicked in. Rose leaned in to examine her appearance, her freckles from the summer were already beginning to fade and she'd inherited her mother's curly hair, though it wasn't quite as frizzy. She was happy with what she saw. _It's not a bad face, really. _She would put make up on back in the carriage, just line her eyes and frame her face.

She gathered her clothes, quickly cleaned the floor of pumpkin and washed her hands. She slid the mahogany door to the bathroom shut, turned and made her way back towards her carriage. When she'd reached her carriage room door, Albus again napping on the seat, this time with Remy perched on his hip, his paws tucked up underneath himself, she felt another presence in the passage. She stilled and looked up. Scorpius Malfoy was looking down at his hands with disgust. In one of them was Rose's blouse, covered in food crumbs, but still very much her blouse. _Shit. Okay, do I acknowledge the clothing? Do I abandon it? I mean he could cast a charm to find the owner…_She turned to face him, conscious that she'd stood in the passage for approximately 70% longer than she should have. _But then he'll think I'm some gross Mudblood who can't even eat pastry properly. _She'd learnt that word from a group of particularly vicious 6th years just after her first Christmas at Hogwarts, unlike her mother, it had never really bothered her. _Stupid words for stupid people. _But, fortunately, or unfortunately, Rose no longer needed to make a decision regarding Food!Blouse, because, directly in front of her now stood Malfoy, arm outstretched, offering said blouse.

"I believe you dropped this." His voice had dropped a few octaves, though it still crackled with youth.

Rose reached out and took the item of clothing, silently. A few flakes floated to the floor. Scorpius stood there and let his arm fall to his side. He looked at Rose, raising an eyebrow. _Am I staring? I'm staring. _He had turned to head away when Rose blurted out –

"I know how to eat properly!"

After a beat he snorted and sneered. "Okaaay?" With a shrug of his shoulders, he went on his way, pausing to let a group of third years past.

Rose stood, dumbstruck in the passageway, clothes clutched to her chest. Before groaning internally, turning back to the door and pressing her forehead to the glass, cold and hard. _What the hell just happened? Well, he's still a prick, that's for sure. He's just a hot prick now._ She slid the door open. Her make-up bag lay on the top of her open trunk. She picked it up and busied herself. _Ugh, I swear, I need to not think he's hot. He's a bigoted, narcissistic, asshole. Why would I forget that?_

Rose Weasley had good reason to not like Scorpius Malfoy. Despite his surname, she determined to give him as much of a break as she could. Her parents had taught her to be understanding of all creatures, great and small, and the Malfoys were as tiny as humans could get. That had changed in her second year.

_***2 and a half years ago***_

It had been the coldest winter for 70 years, so cold in fact, they almost wouldn't allow students to travel home for Christmas. But it was in January, when the students returned, that things got really bad. It had snowed solidly for 13 days, the snow piled 15 feet deep and had to be blasted away by the professors and the house elves and those who felt confident enough not to blow their gloves off. It even drifted all the way up to the windows of the Gryffindor Common Room, slowly encasing the room, blocking out the light. Eventually they cancelled classes and so the students were restricted to the castle.

Obviously, they got bored.

There were pillow fights and food fights, the seventh years enchanted the younger year's toys and staged knockout tournaments. They made pumpkin soup and hot chocolate, hot cinnamon milk and steamed blueberry muffins in makeshift cookers made from cauldrons and with ingredients stolen from the kitchen by James and his friends. The girls in Rose's dorm all piled their mattresses on the floor and made one huge blanket fort, roasting marshmallows over wand fires and talking about their dreams and what they were going to do when they grew up.

After 4 days of the shut in, it got really cold, the temperature rarely reached above -5 centigrade. It didn't snow anymore; it was too cold for that. Instead the sun made the snow shine and sparkle. Across this field of snow, the Great Lake turned to ice. The sound of it solidifying could be heard all the way from the Gryffindor tower, a deep, booming sound, deadened by the snow. The snow swallowed all the sound, either that or all the wildlife had either died or been buried. The Forbidden Forest was no longer composed of trees, it had been replaced by a lumpy blanket of white, occasionally a sentinel tree poked through. Rose thought it was magnificent.

On the evening of the 21st, Albus passed a message from James. They were going to go and skate on the lake. The plan was to sneak out down the snow which had piled against the tower, James then girl-friend, Tatiana, a beater on the Gryffindor quidditch team, had taken 7 broomsticks from the store. They would fly out the window and down the snow at 7pm and be back for lights out at 10.

The Great Lake was eerily quiet.

"You go first." Albus clung to his broomstick, hovering 6 inches from the ice of the lake. Both he and Rose wore at least 4 layers of clothes. They had enchanted the bottom layer so it warmed them to room temperature, but it was at least -20 degrees Celsius, so it was shirt and pullover and jacket and coat, thick scarves and fur mittens, woolly hats and thermal underwear, 5 pairs of socks and knee-high boots. The clothing alone made agility impossible.

"Chicken." Rose smirked in the moonlight and buried her nose in her scarf as her breath swirl away into the night air. She swung her leg over and placed both feet on the ice. The solidity of it startled her, almost as if she had expected it to bend under her weight. It felt so strong, so powerful, Rose suddenly felt very small. It was just her and Albus, on the flattest surface, which stretched for at least a mile in either direction. James, Tatiana and 3 more fourth years were off in the distant, their shrieks the only sound in the milky darkness.

"Is it slippery?" Albus still hadn't come off his broom.

"Umm, kinda." Rose held onto her broom and brushed her boots over the surface of the ice.

"It's kinda bumpy, from the bubbles in the ice. Ooh!" She slipped and held onto her broom even tighter. Albus eventually slid off his broom and together they spent the next hour or so racing and slipping and falling and laughing.

Then the Slytherins appeared. At first they kept themselves to themselves. Rose and Albus grew wearier. Rose asked Albus to go, to leave and go back to their dorm. Albus said that would be admitting defeat, that they were there first and they should stay, at least for a while.

Things were fine until they discovered they could make the ice crack. The first crack shot across the lake like lightning. Albus jumped and Rose fell on her bum. Slytherin laughter followed.

"Hey!" Shouted Rose. "Don't do that." She used her broom to pull herself up, with a hand from Albus. The Slytherins were 3 black shapes, only an inch or so high, dark against the blue of the edge of the lake.

"Like we're going to take orders from a Gryffindor. Especially one like you."

_What was that supposed to mean?_

Albus bristled. "Scorpius! Is that you?"

Another crack in the ice, this time it spread singularly towards the two Gryffindor children. By this time James and his friends had gone back to the Common Room, yet Albus still glanced towards where they had been.

"Malfoy, what are you doing?"

"Oh! I'm a Malfoy now? Does that make it easier to talk to me, Potter? Just lump us all together. Maybe we just came out here to have fun!"

Another crack, this time splinters of ice jumped up. This one was deep and jagged, creating blocks of ice which popped up from the pressure of the water below, dark water seeped up through the fissures.

"I'm scared." Rose held onto Albus' shoulder.

"It's okay. He's not going to do anything extreme." Albus' voiced waivered. "Stop it!" He shouted.

A laugh drifted across the ice.

"You know it's funny, it's almost impossible to make a wizard's murder look like an accident. Muggle deaths however…" The ice cracked again, Rose felt the ice shift beneath her feet. Her heart thundered against her chest and she couldn't feel anything.

"Muggles may have actually got something right for once, people die in accidents all the time. This will be a fitting death."

Albus turned to Rose, shouting. Albus would later tell her that it was "Get on your broom" or something like that. To this day, Rose cannot remember, all she could hear was the roar of the cracking ice. All she felt was the fabric of Albus' coat slip slowly from her grip. The ice turning, thick and sharp. Her boots slipping on the new angled floor, the bite of the ice as she bashed her head. If it hadn't been for her grip on her broom, Rose would have been in the Lake and under that ice immediately. The thought of what could have happened had brought her to the edge of tears for almost a year. Albus grabbed the back of her coat and she clung there for a beat before clambering up onto her broom. Her heart pounded so hard she could hear the blood rush around her body. There was a ringing sound in her ears and her vision went grey. By the time she had gathered her wits, they were back in the Gryffindor Common Room. Her feet were soaked with the water from the Lake, so she told Albus she wanted to go straight to bed, to warm up.

She had cried herself to sleep that night, not from the fear of what could have happened, but because she had had no idea that someone she thought could have possibly been her friend, could hate her so much.


End file.
